02/02/2010 | By:
RSV4_still02

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration finally released information about the upcoming Aprilia RSV4 engine recall, and just as we suspected here at Motorcycle.com, the culprit was a faulty batch of connecting rods.

Yes, the same conrods that curtailed the RSV4R’s European launch, attended by our correspondent Tor Sagen. That October media event at the world-class Mugello circuit was halted after five, count’em, FIVE engines blew. Sagen reported at the time Aprilia blamed the problem on a single batch of bad conrods.

Aprilia also said at the time the batch was only used in pre-production models, such as the ones used in Mugello. That was then.

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28/10/2009 | By:
p04846_0279Aprilia cut short its launch event for the new RSV4R at Italy’s Mugello circuit as not one, not two, not three, not even four but FIVE pre-production models suffered engine failure.

Motorcycle.com contributor Tor Sagen was at Mugello in Tuscany and was scheduled to do a few laps on the world-class circuit on the RSV4R, a lower-spec version of the Aprilia RSV4 Factory. Tor reports the engine problems were being attributed to the conrods from the first batch of 50 pre-production engines.

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